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'Gold Rush: White Water' Season 3 Episode 3 sees bear attack camp while Alaska authorities order Fred to fill hole he dug 8 years ago

The Alaska Department of Natural Resources’s Division of Mining, Land and Water ordered Fred to fill in a hole -- a hole he had dug eight years ago in search of gold. The authorities now made filling up the hole Fred’s priority, making sure his other operation would remain shut until it was done

In episode 3 of Discovery Channel’s docu-series ‘Gold Rush: White Water’ Season 3, ‘Dakota’ Fred Hurt, his son Dustin Hurt and their respective crews had a surprise waiting for them. When they returned from the base camp to their camp near their gold claims, they found that it had been attacked by a bear.

Things at the campsite were a mess and there were visible claw marks on the structures. Upon examination of camp footage, they discovered it was a grizzly bear and according to Dustin, it would probably return again. 

At Dustin’s site “Rainbow’s End” in Cahoon Creek, things were looking up. With the addition of James Hamm to the team in episode 2, they now had enough manpower to get things moving. But luck in the Chilkat Mountain can change anytime.

The crew discovered soon enough that one of their machines was malfunctioning because of their negligence. The problems didn’t end there. As James dug deeper, he found that getting the bigger rocks out of the way was going to challenge them more than they expected.

While they devised a method to get rid of the rocks at the creekbed, things proved to be tricky. James, as he attempted to fix the line that would serve as a way to transport the rocks, hit a beehive.

Carlos Minor, their most experienced diver even risked his life to get the system in place. But things worked out for them. With the rocks out of the way, dredging went on smoothly again -- and they even found some flecks of gold!

A quarter of a mile downstream at “Two Fish”, Fred’s claim, was the 75-year-old’s first dive of the week. But before Fred’s crew could find gold, they found trouble. Fred got called down to Porcupine Creek, messing with their plans to dredge up gold.

That wasn’t all. The Alaska Department of Natural Resources’s Division of Mining, Land and Water ordered Fred to fill in a hole -- a hole that he had dug eight years ago in search of gold. The authorities now made filling up the hole Fred’s priority, making sure his other operation would remain shut until it was done.

It seems as if 'Dakota' Fred lost his lucky streak and his son Dustin, found it. But in the harsh terrains of the Chilkat range, nothing remains certain forever.

‘Gold Rush: White Water’ Season 3 airs on the Discovery Channel every Sunday at 10 p.m. ET.